Jobless people who come off benefits and go to work will no longer lose out
financially under the biggest shake-up of the welfare system for decades.
Official forecast predicts that Britain’s population will swell from 62.2
million to 77 million, overtaking France and Germany.
Miliband criticises David Cameron, accusing him of “going off script” with his
remarks about Pakistan.
Dominique Cottrez accused of France’s worst case of infanticide, her husband
is charged with hiding the bodies.
Children were suspended from school on more than 80,000 occasions last year
for attacking teachers and classmates, official figures showed today.
Only 153 schools apply to become academies – despite education secretary’s claims that more than 1,000 had done so
Michael Gove, the education secretary, faced renewed attacks today when it emerged that only 153 schools had applied to become academies – despite his claims that more than 1,000 had done so.
Gove had said that the scale of demand from schools to escape town hall control required the government to rush legislation through parliament before this week’s summer recess.
It now seems likely that no new academies will be formed in time for the autumn term as a result of the scheme.
The shadow education secretary, Ed Balls, accused Gove of “railroading” the legislation through parliament, and demanded that he explain why he “misleadingly claimed that more than 1,000 schools had applied”. Balls, a contender for the Labour leadership, added: “It seems to me that the real reason for the rush was to avoid proper scrutiny for a deeply flawed piece of legislation.”
Gove is already under attack from MPs, teachers and councils for a bungled announcement over whether hundreds of schools’ plans for new buildings would go ahead.
He was forced to apologise in the Commons earlier this month after his office ignored advice to check an error-strewn list of cancelled building projects before it was published. The list suggested that many school building programmes would go ahead that had in fact been cancelled.
In relation to the academies, the department issued a press release on 2 June quoting Gove as saying: “The response has been overwhelming. In just one week, over 1,100 schools have applied.” He added: “Of these, 626 are outstanding schools, including over 250 primary schools, nearly 300 secondary schools (over half of all the outstanding secondary schools in the country) and over 50 special schools.”
Outstanding schools are to be fast-tracked to academy status.
A fortnight ago, the Department for Education revealed a second list of 1,907 primary, secondary and special schools that had registered an interest in turning into academies. Gove has written to every school inviting them to apply.
The new, far lower, number of schools that have applied may largely stem from the fact that Gove misdescribed expressions of general interest in the scheme as an actual application.
The lower-than-expected demand also questions why he needed to use emergency parliamentary procedures to rush through legislation this week. The academies bill, which became law on Tuesday, allows hundreds more schools to opt out of local authority control and turn into academies. The bill was pushed through the Commons in less than three days.
Balls said the emergency procedures were unnecessary given that only 153 schools had applied. He said Gove “railroaded” the bill through “because he said hundreds of schools wanted to become academies … and many wanted to open [as such] in September. Now barely 10% of that number have even applied for academy status and none of them will convert in September.”
It may be too early to say whether the level of demand to become academy schools is truly much lower than Gove had envisaged, but it would be a serious blow to the government’s whole public service reform programme if it emerges that his revolution does not have the support in schools that he claimed.
Supporters of the scheme argue that school governing bodies are going to need time to weigh up the advantages of academy status, as well as see how some of the new schools perform. But the preliminary figures suggest that Gove’s reforms have not sparked an instant nationwide revolution.
During the parliamentary passage of his legislation, Gove agreed to allow greater local consultation than planned before a school could take academy status.
The list of 153 schools includes about 45 primary schools, at least 12 faith schools and more than 20 grammar schools.
Gove has said he hopes – and expects – that academies will be the norm among secondary schools by the end of a first term in government. He told the Today programme earlier this month that “hundreds of schools are anxious to take advantage of these proposals”.
Teachers’ leaders condemned the government tonight for acting too hastily over academies.
“Our education system is too important to be subject to acting in haste, but repenting at leisure,” said Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.
“We remain concerned that many of the schools which have applied won’t have carried out any form of consultation. Democracy will not be well served if children, parents and staff first learn of their school’s plans to become an academy from the media.”
She added that it would be “interesting to see if the list of schools applying to become an academy is as accurate, or not” as the error-ridden list that informed schools whether their building projects were to be scrapped.
Academies, unlike other state schools, have total freedom over their budgets, the curriculum and the length of the school day and term. They can also decide teachers’ pay. Their expansion is thought to be the biggest change to school structures since grammar and secondary moderns were encouraged to become comprehensives in the 1960s.
Under Labour, only failing schools were turned into academies. But the new government has said that schools rated outstanding will be allowed to quickly switch to academy status and have their applications pre-approved.
Details of plot emerge in file among US military intelligence documents published by WikiLeaks website
It may be one of the more audacious terrorist plots to be hatched in Afghanistan, but it was certainly not the most original. The same al-Qaida masterminds behind 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington planned to commit a similar attack in the capital of the country that once harboured them, according to a file among US military intelligence documents published this week by the WikiLeaks website.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s second in command, is said to have given the order for a team of 22 to board one or more planes at Kabul airport, hijack the aircraft and steer them toward a number of “important objectives”.
The targets were to include Hamid Karzai’s presidential palace, Nato headquarters, the British and US embassies and the Ariana hotel – the whole which the CIA rented and used as its station in Kabul.
The details of the plot have emerged as the leak of secret intelligence continues to create controversy in Kabul and Washington owing to the large number of references alleging that Pakistan’s spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), supported the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Karzai today told reporters that Islamabad was the source of the conflict in his country, and called on his western allies to “destroy” the Taliban’s sanctuaries inside Pakistan. It was a striking return to the sort of anti-Pakistani rhetoric that he, who has sought better relations with Islamabad, has refrained from for many months.
Karzai also criticised the publication of files naming Afghan informers as “extremely irresponsible and shocking”, echoing widespread fears that their lives are now at risk from Taliban reprisals. Several logs published by Wikileaks have been found to contain information about local intelligence sources including names, locations and even grid references. The three news organisations which published reports based on the Afghan war logs this week, the Guardian, the New York Times and Der Spiegel, took care not to publish any material that would identify informers or otherwise put troops at risk.
The report on the alleged hijack plot, recorded by intelligence officers on 23 March 2009, highlights the mixed quality of western intelligence, particularly the large number of “threat reports” fed to coalition forces each day – there are almost 2,500 for Kabul alone in the five-year period covered by the logs.
On the one hand the airline plot report is detailed, naming a number of conspirators, including Afghan or Pakistani generals and a pilot from the Afghan national carrier, who were allegedly involved in providing the hijackers fake IDs and “facilitating anti-coalition training”.
Whereas the 9/11 hijackers went to flight schools in Arizona and Florida, the Kabul plotters were due to receive flying lessons at a “private air club in Karachi”. Apparently their ideological indoctrination had already begun as they attended a madrasa in Khukitan, in Pakistan’s Swat valley.
All 22 were al-Qaida members and included Arabs, Pakistanis, Chechens and Uzbeks with fake Afghan IDs, the report claims. At an unspecified date they would enter Afghanistan and try to obtain Russian, Chinese and Iranian visas to allow them to fly to those countries.
“During the flight they will hijack the plane and conduct attacks in Kabul,” said the report. Although it is categorised as a “C3″, meaning the source is regarded as “fairly reliable” and the information is “possibly true”, the report is imprecise, both referring to a single plane being hijacked and to a number of different “attacks” against various targets.
Iran’s Fars news agency reported that an attempted hijack of an Ariana aircraft by a loan hijacker was foiled in May.
Even if the intelligence report referred to a serious plot it seems very unlikely to have succeeded.
A 9/11-style attack would be ruled out by the fact that only a couple of commercial flights take off from Kabul every hour, and there are no direct flights to China or Russia. Kabul airport is also an exceptionally difficult place from which to hijack planes, with some of the most stringent security procedures in the world.
It is normal for passengers to have their bags searched twice and to be frisked four times, with varying degrees of effectiveness, before they reach check-in – there’s another frisk and bag check before getting onto the plane.
Boris Johnson’s answer to Paris’s Vélib bike-hire scheme launched in London today. Follow live updates and post your views and experiences of Barclays cycle hire
8.44am:
The satirical website The Poke has been having fun with the scheme and Photoshop.
Batting away criticism that the £750 million price tag for the Millenium Bicycle was ’scandalous’, Johnson boasted that “this extra wheel will be just the beginning. Over time we will add the Millennium Wicker Basket, the Millennium Child Seat, and the Millennium ‘Ping’ Bicycle Bell – itself large enough to include a five star restaurant hosted by Michel Roux.”
8.36am:
Dave Hill has blogs his verdict here.
The bikes’ weight and bulk look belie how easy they are to ride. I pedalled pretty effortlessly down Whitechapel Road. The three gears worked smoothly and the brakes did what brakes are meant to do. There’s a warning message between the handlebars about the potential danger from motor vehicles turning left. Yes indeed. With the Gherkin in my sights ahead I could have struck out for the City, but rather than push my luck I turned off down the side streets and meandered for a quarter of an hour or - discovering in the process red flashing lights near the rear wheels - so before returning the bike to a different, bigger docking station further down Whitechapel Road in New Road.
8.22am:
Boris Johnson has spoken (with another jibe at David Cameron’s Big Society). “This is the Rolls Royce of bicycles. I’m not saying it will win the Tour de France, but it is a beautiful, beautiful machine. I believe this cycling revolution will tackle all sorts of problems in society: pollution, it will help to get us fitter, it will help to tackle the scourge of obesity, or Big Society, as it is sometimes confusingly known. I think it will be a wonderful way of getting people out of their cars.”
He adds: “In 1904, 20% of journeys were made by bicycle and in London. I want to see that kind of figure again. If you can’t turn the clock back to 1904 ladies and gentlemen, what is the point of being a Conservative?”
Here’s the audio thanks to the community blogger SE1.
8.18am:
The prolific letter writer Keith Flett tweets:
8.10am:
Former mayor Ken Livingstone grudgingly welcomes the scheme, but points out he thought of it first. He emailed this statement:
I am delighted that the London bike hire scheme has become a reality at last and I encourage Londoners to register and take advantage of the new bikes.”“Despite the delays and set-backs in delivering the scheme, I believe today marks a step on the road to making London a true cycling city but there remains a concern that while millions has been spent on a central London scheme at the same time Boris Johnson cut cycle funding in many outer London boroughs.
8.05am:
“Barclays Cycle Hire will revolutionise how we get around central London,” says Boris’s transport man David Brown said. Really?
7.48am:
The early verdict on Twitter has been generally positive. But here are some gripes:
MahaViv: “Do no locks on the London Barclays Bike Hire scheme mean you literally can’t even risk stopping for lunch somewhere?“
laurenuu: “Well I already thing [sic] the TfL cycle hire is crap. For the first month you have to register for it in advance. Thought it was making it easier“
Ecojames: London Bike Hire Scheme - yet another scheme to rip off Londoners and tourists alike http://nblo.gs/6m3pE
However, Andrew Garnett, editor of New Transport magazine is more typical in expressing enthusiasm.
“Had my first go on London cycle hire. Brilliant, intuitive bike that you feel rather grand riding. A massive, thumping 10/10 from me!“
7.39am:
The magazine Time Out has prepared this useful clickable Google Map of the all the docking stations, together with a guide to the scheme.
7.33am:
The Londonist blog also likes the bikes with some quibbles about the heft.
Sturdy doesn’t really do it justice: these are designed to withstand a beating from both careless cyclists and drunken vandals alike. They’re heavy and slow to turn, which might catch out anyone familiar with a nimble Brompton.In a token gesture towards safety, there’s a sign planted in the middle of the handlebars warning cyclists to beware large vehicles turning left. Well, we can’t say they didn’t warn us! There’s also a functional bag holder and strap on the front, which didn’t look like the kind of place you’d want to store something valuable like your laptop.
Overall it was a pleasant, indeed fun, experience, and at least one Londonista will be riding to work today to see how the bikes perform on a proper trip.
7.26am:
“Yesterday I was sitting in the office saying ‘it’s never going to work’ and then when I hoped on a bike I was immediately converted. I just felt a celebrity - everyone was like ‘are you on one of Boris’s bikes’,” says new enthusiast Helen Pidd.
7.08am:
Occasional cyclist and the Guardian’s London blogger Dave Hill tried out a bike in Whitechapel. He found the appearance of the bikes “over Barclayed” but otherwise he gives them high marks. “I hope Boris isn’t listening, but nothing seemed to be wrong with it, so I’m going to give it a provisional 10″ he told me.
6.44am:
Not all the docking stations are ready. There are supposed to be 36 bikes available at London Zoo (according to my phone app), but when I went there this morning, just after 6am, only four bikes were there and the docking post was wrapped in hazard tape.
Here’s some very amateur mobile phone footage:
6.30am:
Up to 6,000 bikes at 400 “docking stations” were due to made available for hire today for the launch of Boris Johnson’s much-trumpeted Barclays Cycle Hire scheme.
Perhaps in an effort to lower expectations, the London mayor has already predicted that “lots of things will go wrong” – and some already have, according to the Evening Standard.
Yesterday, Transport for London confirmed that only about 300 stations and 5,000 bikes would be ready today. They also said that around 11,000 people had registered to use those bikes.
We’ll be tracking the first day of the launch as the public puts the bikes, and the docking stations, to the test. Please send us your first impressions.
And if you’re having trouble finding one of the hire bikes, try out one of the mobile phone apps reviewed by the Londonist blog.
In Paris the successful Vélib scheme prompted something of craze for performing stunts on the hire bikes, such as riding down steps and skate board ramps and filming the results.
If you happen to spot anything like this, do let us know.
So far the London bikes have had mixed reviews. They are too slow, too heavy, don’t have a lock or a basket, but otherwise they’re fine, according to the Guardian’s Leo Hickman, who was given a preview.
The Green London Assembly member Jenny Jones is an enthusiast, but she’s worried it’s too expensive, too small compared to Paris, and she doesn’t like the lack of a lock either.
Then there’s the name. If you object to the official corporate title please suggest another one.
Defence secretary Liam Fox rebuked by chancellor, who says there are no exemptions for his budget
George Osborne has delivered a rebuke to the defence secretary, Liam Fox, declaring that the costs of Britain’s new Trident nuclear deterrent would come from the main defence budget.
In a sign of the Tory leadership’s growing impatience with Fox, who has embarked on what Downing Street sources have dubbed “freelance” missions, the chancellor said there could be no special accountancy exemptions for the defence budget.
Speaking in Delhi, Osborne said: “The Trident costs, I have made it absolutely clear, are part of the defence budget. All budgets have pressure. I don’t think there’s anything particularly unique about the Ministry of Defence.
“I have made it very clear that Trident renewal costs must be taken as part of the defence budget.”
His remarks will be seen as a reprimand for Fox, who has complained that the MoD was being asked to pay the £20bn costs of replacing Trident.
Fox believes that those costs should be the Treasury’s responsibility, because Britain’s continuous at-sea defence is a matter of national security.
The defence secretary told BBC1’s Andrew Marr show on 18 July: “There has always been an understanding that the [capital] budget for the nuclear deterrent came from outside the core defence budget. Running costs for the deterrent have always come from inside.
“That is something we are discussing in the runup to the spending review. To take the capital cost would make it very difficult to maintain what we are currently doing in terms of capabilities.”
There have been tensions for some time between Fox and Osborne over Trident. The Treasury regards Fox’s remarks as a classic example of ministerial lobbying before a spending review.
Osborne is due to outline the tightest spending squeeze in a generation in October. One source said: “The costs of Trident have always come out of the MoD budget. We know what Liam is up to. But does he expect that the department of culture will pay for Trident?”
The MoD has been promised it will be treated more lightly than other departments in October. But these reassurances are aimed at troops in Afghanistan.
Senior Whitehall officials made it clear yesterday that if the cost of Trident has to come out of the defence budget there would be a serious knock-on effect on the rest of Britain’s large weapons project.
“It will be a huge blow,” said one source, who asked not to be identified.
The MoD declined to comment.
National Wildlife Federation says catalogue of oil industry accidents proves BP disaster in Gulf of Mexico is not a one-off
The oil industry has been responsible for thousands of fires, explosions, and leaks over the last decade, killing dozens of people and destroying wildlife and the environment across America, according to a report published today.
None of the individual incidents catalogued by the National Wildlife Federation comes close in scale to BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the worst environmental disaster in America’s history. But the thousands of lesser offshore spills, pipeline leaks, refinery fires and other accidents demolish the industry argument that BP’s ruptured well was a one-off, and that the oil and gas business has grown safer, the report’s authors said.
“These disasters make it clear that the BP disaster isn’t a rare accident,” said Tim Warman, who directs the global warming programme for NWF, which calls itself the country’s largest conservation organisation. “These are daily occurrences. These are daily incidents of not paying attention.”
In a further grim reminder, the American midwest was in the throes of its own environmental disaster today, with a ruptured pipeline gushing gallons of oil into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River.
Enbridge Energy, which is Canadian-owned but based in Houston, said the spill may have reached 1m gallons. Federal government officials in Washington and the state of Michigan were struggling to stop the oil from reaching the Great Lakes.
In the Gulf of Mexico, meanwhile, while BP’s oil well remains capped, a tugboat crashed into an abandoned well this week and set off a 100ft gusher of oil and gas.
The coastguard commander, Thad Allen, told reporters today that operations were switching from response to recovery, suggesting that equipment and personnel in the Gulf could be drastically scaled back in four to six weeks. “If you need fewer skimming vessels out there, there is going to be a levelling you need to consider,” he said.
The report from the National Wildlife Federation drew on records from the Minerals Management Service, which regulates offshore drilling, and the Environmental Protection Agency, to come up with a figure of 1,440 offshore leaks, blowouts, and other accidents were reported between 2001-2007.
In addition to environmental damage, these caused 41 deaths and 302 injuries.
The safety record for onshore activities was even more dismal. Some 2,554 pipeline accidents occurred between 2001 and 2007, killing 161 people and injuring 576.
“Oil and gas is being produced in 34 states across the country and it is just not being regulated to the extent it needs to be,” said Lauren Pagel of Earthworks, which monitors extractive industries.
At times, the accidents occurred far from industrial installations such as offshore drilling rigs or refineries. In one particularly gruesome incident from August 2000, three families with young children on a camping trip in New Mexico were consumed by a 500ft fireball from a ruptured pipeline. All 12 people were killed, and an official investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board later blamed the pipeline company for failing to detect or repair severely corroded pipes.
Four years later, a tanker truck lost control and crossed guard rails outside Washington DC, igniting 8,000 gallons of burning petrol on one of the country’s busiest highways. “There was fire everywhere,” the report quotes highway officials as saying. Four people were killed.
Among the causes for the poor safety record was the industry’s relentless costcutting, despite record profits, said the report’s authors, describing equipment failures, tank corrosion, and other signs of poor maintenance. The poor safety and environmental records were not restricted to the so-called Big Oil companies.
Enbridge Energy has had 400 separate spills between 2003 and 2008, spewing 1.3m gallons of crude into the environment, according to official records.
